Poemranker [Replying] Thu Nov 21 13:25:38 PST 2024

Replying to a comment on:

While weâre sleeping somethingâs keeping the world spinning uniformity winning While weâre dueling for knowledge drooling somethingâs ambling comfortably ruling Something sensible? Responsible? Reprehensible!

zodiac

13-Jul-05/6:11 AM

Since posting the comment above, it's struck me that the world doesn't spin uniformly. Its axis wobbles a little under the influence of the moon and the earth's own unequal distribution of mass (in fact, the Christmas earthquake and tsunami almost certainly affected the world's "spin".) Further, the earth's rotation is slowing at a rate of something like 2 seconds every 10,000 years.

Besides, there is no "principle of uniformity".

I think I could count on any interested reader on the site to call "uniformity" negative. Also, I think your poem makes the world's "spinner" ultimately "reprehensible", so maybe you're just being tetchy. As far as earth's spinning being positive, well, we would all DIE if the planet stopped spinning. And spinning (like the earth's) is usually identified with constructive movement, continuity, and so on.

I was exaggerating to rbooey.

Regarding your answer to my question, is it really fair to say "something's keeping / the world spinning"? Isn't it more accurate to say, oh, something's not stopping the world from spinning?

DISCUSSION TOPIC FOR THE DAY: There's some question as to what a universe would look like if there weren't uniform, unchanging, "as if planned" laws of physics holding it together. My first guess is that it's moot, because we wouldn't be here to wonder about it. But of course that's nonsense; a universe without consistent physics could look like whatever it wanted. The one sure bet is that people living in a universe without physics would probably see their universe's lack of physics as evidence of God.

Thanks for the comment.

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